Mokslo ir tikėjimo dialogai

The article describes the origins and development of the Palanga Lutheran congregation, from its formation at the beginning of the 19th century to its closure by the communist authorities in the early postwar years after the Second World War. The life of the affiliate in the parish of Rucava is discussed, as well as its attempts to build its own church in Palanga. The congregation’s life was particularly revitalised after the city was reunited with Lithuania in 1921. As an affiliate of the Kretinga parish, and supported by it and the Gustav-Adolf-Werk, it bought its own prayer house in 1928. The article describes ecclesiastical life in this period, the disastrous effects of the 1938 fire, when the congregation lost its place of worship, and the challenges it faced in the first years of the Soviet occupation.